Glimpses of Humanity
by kit-scagliotti
Summary: Drabble series, mainly Jean/Mikasa. Chapter 6: Who knew that trying to say thanks could lead to this?
1. Chapter 1

**Right well, it's been a little while since I last wrote anything, so I must say it's great to be back. **

**Secondly , this will be the first entry of this ship on here, but it is my current OTP of this series and it gives me the fuzzies.**

**Anyway there will be more of a blurb at the bottom should you have the 15 seconds care to read it.**

**~Kit**

If there was one thing that Jean Kirchstein would never have believed, it would be that he found himself here. Among the chaos of finding out that not only did Eren have the ability to change into Titan form, but rather four other students in the 104th training squad had the same ability.

And here he was, miles away from the safety of the Military Police, stuck on the wall about to ride out to find the now kidnapped Eren Jaeger. Then again, he wasn't exactly doing it for Eren or the good of mankind either.

He looks up at Commander Irvine discussing the best route with the injured Hanji-san, watching their heads nodding as the Commander traces a line on the map. He turns his head to look out over the wall and tries to suppress the twisting grip of fear that grabs his intestines and tries to pull them out through his ribs.

Then he sees her. She is glaring over the wall as if she'll be able to spot Eren at that great distance. This time it is his heart that twists.

He remembers the first time he ever had the courage to speak to her, his initial stumbling of words as she looked at him with those grey eyes. "Never saw anyone who looked like you." He can feel the tiny drops of sweat on his face. "Your black hair is beautiful." He can still feel the heat of the blush that was in his cheeks. She murmers a thanks as she tucks a stray piece behind her ear and turns to go out the door.

He follows her outside and arrives in time to see Eren tell her that her hair is too long and that she should cut it. He is wounded, much to his own surprise, at the surprising ease she agrees to cut her hair. Who was Eren to dictate that to her and why on earth would she listen? It is Conny who is the unfortunate victim as he lashes out, wiping his hand with such force that he stumbles forward. He knows that Conny is still slightly put off by him after the intense change in his aura as his faith in humanity dies.

It is then he vows to hamper Eren by any means necessary. Throughout the whole of training whatever Eren is Jean is the opposite and voices his opinion loudly with the intent of causing a fight. He takes every exasperated sigh she makes as he and Eren are at odds again as one step closer, as a precious moment and one movement closer in her direction.

_When did you become such a sap for another person? _His mind chastises. He dismisses it. He knows he'll do almost anything to protect her and so he does so, quietly waiting for her to signal that she needs help.

When they reach the station and they are preparing their attack on the smaller titans he makes sure to be next to her, read to swoop in in case something goes awry. But she kills her titan and Sasha's, once again proving that she really is above par and glaringly out of his league. He continues his promise continues all the way until the attack and he sees Eren's hidden talent.

Jean once again ignores the twisting of his heart as Mikasa and Armin are so ecstatic to see him alive and she holds him close to her and she cries.

Though they have reached an uneasy peace, he still thinks Eren's idealism will get him killed and a mean voice in his head tells him that maybe that's not such a bad thing. It is not because of him that he volunteers to take Eren's place to his hearing.

It's all because she asked and he was well aware that there were others in the room at the time, but he could only see her and he agrees while stifling the blush he can feel on his cheeks. Vaguely he recalls that asking him was Armin's idea and that it was part of some grander plan.

"I am an idiot." he says to himself while in the wooden box that is delivering him to Eren's hearing. He has sort of worked out the plan and he knows that whatever the plan it'll involve need Eren's Titan ability.

He remains stuck in the wooden box for the entirety of Annie's capture, but he hears later of Mikasa's determination to capture Annie when they are at Eren's bedside. Even going so far as to take her on alone and slice off her fingertips that she was using to climb the wall. "Annie. Fall." Have become words of legend in the Scouting Legion.

He leaves to go get some fresh air when he hears the gossip. Mikasa Ackerman was only so intent to take Annie Leonhardt down because Eren Jaeger liked her. He freezes mid bite into his lunch. He remembers Eren training with Annie but that's as far as he remembers it going. Well he wasn't exactly close with everyone back then, so what he really know?

Commander Irvine is finalising the route when Jean thinks of the month of training they endured, learning all about being part of the Scouting Legion. He doesn't see much of anyone at that point, he focusses hard on learning as his heart still pounds when he thinks of a titan and its his fear that he needs to harness if he ever wants to be good at all this. He talks to Marco occasionally, either cursing or thanking him for what he said. But mostly it's 'cause he is a little lonely. It's during this month that he finds motivation for himself. He realises that he doesn't want to die a disappointing death with no one to remember him. He doesn't want to die alone.

Their first expedition was an abysmal failure, he fully calls it that. The formation was easily disrupted but during the ride with Armin and Reiner he thinks he actually redeemed himself a little. They failed to catch the Female Titan and they lost a whole lot of soldiers that they needn't have risked. Furthermore they were stuck at in a tree while titans swarmed around them from below. Then again he wasn't really aware of that plan at all.

He snaps his head back to reality, he hadn't been part of the scouting party with Eren and the team. He arrived with the next wave to what he thought was total chaos. Of the top ten graduates of the 104th training squad, 5 had turned out to be titans and only Eren was definitely on their side.

He stares at her again, he hands are balled up and she is shaking with anger or sadness, he isn't quite sure. All he wants to do is go put a hand on her shoulder and pull her into a hug. Though he doesn't think that his heart could handle that, it would probably burst out of his chest. His blush deepens as he imagines her kissing him in thanks for his support. Her soft mouth on his, her cheeks wet with tears of relief and her whole body pushed into him. He hastily clears his throat.

He then catches Armin staring at him while he stares at Mikasa. His eyes widen with shock and Armin gives him a knowing smile.

It's as they are saddling up their horses when Armin walks up to him.

"You shouldn't be so obvious." Armin whispers.

"How long have you known?" Jean responds, his whisper a barely contain shout.

"Since you were okay with replacing Eren, it's why I had Mikasa ask you."

His mouth drops open. _Oh god, she knows!" _

"Jean, I'm so glad you came to help Mikasa rescue her _**Brother.**_" Armin says a little louder than normal as he walks away to his horse.

His face feels like it is on fire as he looks up and catches a look of intense puzzlement on Mikasa's face.

**Right well I hope you enjoyed, as you can see I left the ending ambiguous (I think) on purpose as I'm not sure Mikasa has even gotten to know Jean but I'm big on hope. Also I think that as the guy that saved her life she is more attached to Eren that in love with him, also he is the only remaining member of her family still with her (as I said BIG on hope here…)**

**Jean is my favourite character and coincidentally is Isayame Hajime's favourite too which lowers his chance of death from about 99% to around 97%, I reckon. Seriously he is the George R. R. Martin of the Mangaverse. **

**Anyways enough of my drivel, please tell me what you thought, although bashings will be very much ignored; I'll sail my ship and you sail yours and we will be like 2 ships passing except we will be confused as to why we have a common passenger hanging out with another and grumble to ourselves that the other captain is clearly insane.**

**Okay now enough of the drivel, I'm thinking about doing a drabble series and I think Christa should be up next. But if you have any suggestions I'll be happy to try my damnedest **

**Much love and happiness**

**~Kit**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again, This time a little ErenxAnnie for your brainboxes as requested by Crayola94, I really hope I did it justice ****. As always a longer blurb at the bottom **

**Kit**

It was around midnight when he finally managed to slip away to see her. His body still had the occasional shakes from the exhaustion he was suffering from, but he makes the journey in relative silence.

Eren takes advantage of the momentary shuffle in guards to slip in through the door and there, in the torchlight, glittered the encased body of Annie Leonhardt.

Taking a deep breath he approaches her. The torchlights flicker and it sends the light glittering across the massive crystal's facets.

_Who exactly are you Annie? _Eren ponders as he places his hand on the fact closest to her. She looks so goddam peaceful, like she's some legendary princess awaiting an unknown rescuer. _Well, if some prince ever does come rescue you, he's in for one shock. Never one to be called princess, were you? _

Only the crackle of the torches and the sound of the guard outside can be heard as a response. Eren sighs as he slides his hand over the cool, smooth surface.

_I mean, if we were enemies, why did you spend so much time training me? _He looks down through the crystal at her. _Was it all just a game to you?_

Eren turns around and slumps down until he is sitting and his back is against Annie's crystal and he begins to think about all the early mornings he spent with Annie.

It started out that she would train him for an extra hour each day and then they would be sparring buddies during their mutual hand-to-hand combat class. Six days a week Eren would meet up with her and practise.

In the beginning he was all passion and fury and he would attack without focus or direction. Annie took advantage of every opening. "What do you call that?" she would ask as she stared into his eyes, often as he lay prone on the floor. "Again."

But slowly as the months passed he improved. His body grew stronger and he grew to be slightly taller than Annie. _Not that it was of much help._ He thinks. _She could take down our instructor in a heartbeat._

Over the next 3 years he does quite a bit of growing and he is now quite a lot taller than Annie. They are now training for an extra 2 hours each day and he has come quite a distance since his initial start. But now it's less like learning and now more like practising and while Annie still wins Eren is giving her one hell of battle to do so.

"What were you doing here Annie?" He whispers, swivelling around to get a look at her. "I thought after everything that all of us were friends? Though you never showed it, that you and I were especially."

He leans forward again, his head in his hands. He had spent a good two hours interrogating Armin as to what Annie's motives could be. Armin didn't really have an answer, neither did Hanji-san nor Mikasa.

It takes all of Eren's training to not turn around and smash his fist into the crystal. He can feel the frustration bubbling up inside of him and it's making him furious.

He takes a deep breath.

In an attempt to calm himself down, he returns to his perusal of his memories of Annie. _Well, those ones in particular. _It was one of his closely guarded secrets and the cause of his inability to even start fighting Annie.

In their final six months of training something had shifted and Eren hadn't been sure of what, exactly, it was. Annie was acting no different, remaining her cool self and so he wasn't sure if it was all just in his head. So he tried his best to ignore the unfamiliar sensation he had every time they were training.

So he felt like he was doing just that when he asked her to train on a balmy Saturday morning.

"Would you mind sparring with me? I think I almost have the left leg hold down." She looks up at him, the last few bites of her breakfast are still on her plate but they have gone cold. On the right he can see Sasha eyeing the remains.

"Sure." Annie deadpans as she gets up. "But if you think your even close to landing that hold, you're wrong." Eren gets shivers at the slight challenge in her voice.

"Meet you on the field in twenty minutes." He grins at her thrilled at the change to prove her wrong.

She is waiting for him when he gets to the field, her boots and socks are already neatly placed next to her and her arms are wrapped around her knees as she stares into the blue sky. She doesn't move when he sits down next to her and removes his boots and socks too.

"You ready?" He asks, holding out his hand to help her up. She nods and gets up, ignoring his hand. He stands opposite her and pulls his hands up into a defensive stance and she mirrors him as she gets into her stance, her hands pulled up into fists by her face.

There is a seconds pause while they feel each other out and then he attacks. His right leg kicks towards her stomach but she lightly dodges to the right and he sails past her. As soon as his foot hits the ground he pivots and aims a punch to her face. She grasps his wrist and pulls him with his momentum so he falls forward.

"Still haven't learnt to counter that, have you?" She asks as he is pushing himself back up. Eren grunts as an answer as he feints a punch to her side as his other aims one for her cheek. He notices her eyes widen as she sees the shot coming for her cheek and dodges. Barely.

"Getting a little slow there?" He taunts.

She gives him a rare grin. "Careful now, I haven't done anything to attack you yet." She meets his eyes and Eren can feel that shift again.

Without warning she launches herself at him, grabbing his arm to twist it into a hold. He twists with her so as to not allow her to gain any grip and pulls his arm free.

It's not two seconds later that she comes at him again, she grabs his shoulders and throws the weight of herself behind him and pulls down, intending to have him eat a face full of dirt. But he knows this move and twists around to counter it.

Being off balance however, was a factor he didn't consider and he crashes into her sending them both plummeting to the ground. He lands rather solidly on top of her and she lets out a muffled groan. Hastily Eren pulls his chest up from her face.

"Are you okay?" He asks frantically looking down at her. His hands are on either side of her head and he is staring down at her. "Really didn't think that would happen."

She opens her eyes and glares at him. "Having fun Eren?" She asks looking down the length of her body to where their bodies are touching. It's then that he realises just how close they are and he is hyper aware of every bit of contact and somewhere his brain is telling him that they have been this close before and everything was normal then but that voice seems very far away.

"Ah no! Uh – Sorry! Just checking if you were, um, okay." His brain is betraying him, he can feel the heat radiating off of his face and it's not helping that she had locked eyes with him again.

"Eren, I'm going to teach you something." She reaches up around his neck and pulls him towards her, her lips meeting his. For a few seconds he is completely frozen, completely unsure of what is happening. His stomach is swooping, his heartbeat has skyrocketed and the outside world has faded completely. It's only after he feels her lips moving against his own does he respond in kind.

It feels nothing short of spectacular, if he could tell his younger self that grossed out reaction that he felt whenever he saw his parents kiss would change into this, he could almost hear his younger self jeering at him.

He is fully pressed against her now and her legs are wrapped around him tightly, she's still kissing him and she has taken hold of his one arm.

Suddenly the world flips one hundred and eighty degrees and he is feeling the familiar sensation of being tightly secured in one of Annie's famous holds.

"Never let your guard down Eren. I win this round." She releases him and stands up. "Trainings over for the day." She collects her boots and departs the field. It takes twenty minutes for the blush to recede off his cheeks and his breathing to slow down. The phantom pressure of his lips however doesn't leave for hours.

He only sees her in the dining hall later that evening, he blushes at the sight of her but she doesn't even seem fazed. She asks him for the butter and he nearly jumps out of his seat and the blush quickly re-establishes itself on his cheeks. He breathes a sigh of relief at the fact that no one noticed the blunder, not even Jean who was sitting a few seats away and kept glancing over in his general direction. Mikasa and Armin are sharing a quiet conversation on his left hand side about Armin's performance in the 3D Manoeuvring Gear.

It's as they are standing in the line to stack their dishes that she whispers in his ear, "You know I'm always going to win right?" He stiffens at the gust of her breath in his ear and her fingertips pressing into his shoulder as she stands on tip toes to reach his ear.

It's at that moment he decides that Annie Leonhardt needs a taste of her own medicine. He takes a deep even breath to try relieve the blush that has crept back. _And it's getting awfully annoying._ He thinks as he sets down his plates on the stack and leaves the dining hall.

Annie only takes another five minutes to depart the dining hall and begin her solitary walk to the girls boarding hall. He follows her in the shadows waiting for the best moment to strike. She slips in between two buildings and is cloaked in shadows and its here he decides to make his move.

He sneaks up behind her and grabs her shoulder and twists her around. Her eyes widen as she recognises him. "Eren, what are you –"

His only response is to merge his lips with hers. She freezes, much he did but he only uses this to his advantage and he backs her up against the nearest wall and presses himself against her, partly to trap her and partly because, well, it feels just that good. It's a complete shock for him when her arms come up and encircle his waist, pulling him closer than he was before.

She is kissing him back now and his hands are cupping her face. He moves them down to where her hands are and removes them from his waist to pin them against the wall.

Eren breaks the kiss and leans forward; "This time I win."

Then he leaves her, shocked and blushing, in that space between the two buildings. His last image is of her clutching a hand to her chest, her eyes wide and a very prominent blush on her cheeks.

When he opens his eyes again Eren still sitting back in the lab and the cold of the stone floor has sunk straight into his bones.

Eren gets up off of the floor and leans over the crystal again. _You know Annie, I didn't even look at girls like that until you kissed me. This is all your fault! _ He looks down at her face and swears that if it's among one of the last things he ever does, he'll teach Annie a lesson one more time.

**First and foremost, thanks you to all of those who reviewed ****. Each one made my day and I walked around with a stupid grin on my face; much to the shock of anyone who works with me.**

**Secondly, I hope I did this couple justice. I was trying to see how I could slip this in to the actual story and still keep the characters in character and I'm not entirely sure how well that went. **

**Thirdly, the next one will be another JeanxMikasa, the idea came to me while writing this chapter. Also to those of you who caught my slight alluding to Jean watching Mikasa, well done **

**Alright enough of the blurb **

**~Kit**


	3. Chapter 3

**Apologies for the delay! I kinda had to re edit this a bit as the new manga came out today! As a note after that small SPOILERS for the new chapter **

**EDIT: Guess who used a wrong name? This idiot right here….**

**As always longer (boring) blurb at the bottom.**

**~Kit**

When Mikasa awoke, she was next to a dying fire on an impossibly cold floor and all alone. Apart from the soft crackle from the fire there was nothing she could hear in the immediate distance.

She sat up and looked around her, the small fire illuminated the stone wall that was behind her as well as her 3D Manoeuvring Gear. Similar walls on the left and right indicated she was in the dead end of a corridor, but ahead of her stretched a dark gloom.

Mikasa strained her ears trying to ascertain any movement within the corridor. It's almost imperceptible at first, but then she hears it: The sound of rhythmic footfalls and they were coming closer.

They were hiding under the ruins of an old fort, in the tunnels that had been a rather fortunate discovery. But they were unsure if there were any breaches so Commander Irvin posted them in twos down the stretch they were occupying.

Silently she gets up and moves to her gear, quietly slipping it on. The footsteps are closer now, but they are softer than she expects for a titan. _It has to be a deviant class. _She slides two blades in, locks them into place and draws them.

Peering into the darkness, she can just make out figure shuffling towards her and she still feels that stab of primal fear. _You have to fight_. She tells herself. _You have to save Eren._

She is about to storm towards the titan when she hears what sounds like a log hitting the ground, followed by a very audible "Shit!"

Mikasa stops. Titans cannot speak and definitely cannot curse.

It is with no amount of shock to see Jean emerge from the darkness. In his arms is a precarious stack of wood and she can see the furrow of his brow as he concentrates on balancing the logs. When he looks up and sees her, he blanches at her defensive stance and a log flies off of the pile and rolls to her feet.

"Y-You okay?" He asks. "I saw the fire was dying, so I went to get more wood."

He hefts the wood up as if to show her, a faint blush on his cheeks. She murmurs her thanks and turns around to go back to the fire. As she sits he deposits the wood down and begins to build up the fire again. It's not even ten minutes until the fire is roaring once again and he sits down next to her.

Mikasa wraps her scarf tighter around her throat and stares into the flames. The battle in the forest had been over before most people could comprehend what had happened, they had all scattered. Hannes, Armin, Jean and herself had given chase and the others had emerged sometime after them. They all could see Eren, bound and gagged with the tendrils of steam emerging from his stumps, but he was unconscious. They gave chase throughout the night. Reiner's titan form had just been able to stay ahead of them and just when he was beginning to tire, the sun started to rise.

Eren and the others had fled until they reached the next patch of forest. They would have given chase but the signal flare came for them to regroup. Commander Irvin made the instruction to hide in the ruins of the abandoned fort nearby. It had taken all of Mikasa's remaining strength to not disobey those orders and go chasing after Eren.

Armin had tried to get her to calm down, but he also tired and on edge and it was Jean who quietly told her his opinion. "We need to regroup. Reiner is probably exhausted from the chase but we have Ymir, who is incredibly fast and Bertholdt, who is incredibly huge, to worry about. You also saw that Eren has not yet regenerated all of his body parts and for whatever reason is still unconscious. We need to give him time to heal as well as rest ourselves." Out of the corner of her eye Armin nods and Conny is gaping at Jean as if he had spoken in a completely foreign language. "Also we have to now rescue Christa as well."

Commander Irvin had paired them off so that the perimeter was fully watched. Mikasa wasn't even aware that she was so fatigued until after she and Jean had set up their fire and she had sat down.

When she looks up out of the flames, Jean is also looking pensive.

"Jean, how far away is Eren?"

He looks at her. "Commander Irvin reckons that the forest is only about a half an hour in front of us. As soon as it's near twilight we will be making our attack."

She nods mutely and continues staring into the flames. Suddenly Jean moves in closer and places his hand on her shoulder and she looks at him in confusion.

"Mikasa, I swear to you we will save Eren."

For a split second Mikasa forgets how to breathe, it's not his words that get to her, but the look of determination within them. Eren has passion in his eyes, but Jean has determination in his. She knows that the passion was always in Eren's eyes but she can't remember when the determination started burning in his.

It is a full five seconds that she stares into his eyes before realising she has zoned out and she quickly breaks eye contact. Jean quickly leans back and when she looks at him again his cheeks are glowing a fiery red. She wonders if she has embarrassed him, probably judging by his cheeks and how long she stared.

"Thank you Jean." She says to him and she sees him nod his head once while staring pointedly at the wall.

They fall into an a strangely uncomfortable silence, punctured every so often by Jean either clearing his throat or opening his mouth only to snap it shut and curse lightly under his breath.

They are saved from the silence by the sound of someone else approaching.

A few seconds later Armin emerges from the darkness and comes to a stop in front of them.

"Commander Irvin says we are heading out in the next 5 hours. He says that we should try and sleep in two hour shifts, if any of you can."

Mikasa sees Jean nod.

"Thanks Armin." She says, there are dark circles under his eyes and she can tell that he is as internally stressed as she is.

Armin looks to Jean and despite his stress, manages to give him a grin. "Having fun Jean?" The colour drains out of Jean's face so quickly. His eyes dart to her and widen with fear as he locks eyes with her. She can see him relax as he notices the confusion that must be scrawled all over her face.

He turns to Armin, who still has a grin on his face and gives him a grin back. "Look I'd start being a little more quiet if I were you. Or am I allowed to speak freely about what exactly I saw?"

Armin blushes. "So you saw?" It is more of a statement than a question.

Mikasa has no idea what either of them are on about and frankly she has never been this confused. She doesn't recall Armin ever having any secrets but she isn't so sure about Jean.

She remembers the fierce fights between Eren and Jean during their academy days, they were a little hard to forget considering she had to drag him away, but the reason that they seemed to fight had always eluded her. Both parties seemed to take great delight in antagonising each other, maybe it was because Eren knew of Jean's secret?

She couldn't even begin to guess Armin's.

"Well I had better get going. Conny is taking the first shift and I want to see if I can sleep."

"Bye Armin, rest well." She says to him with a small smile on her face.

Armin and Jean nod to each other. With a final wave Armin departs.

"What is that all about?" she asks Jean.

Jean practically implodes. "N-Nothing! Just a, um, joke between Armin and myself." Jean is now crimson from the tips of his ears to the bottom of his neck.

Mikasa knows he is lying. Jokes do not elicit such responses. She wonders if Armin will tell her.

"I'm sorry that I can't tell you." He blurts out. "It's just not all that easy to say."

She looks at him again, the blush is now just on his cheeks and his eyes still burn with determination, but there is something else blazing inside there. Whatever it is, it is setting her off kilter and making her body feel like it is burning too.

It is an entirely new sensation and not all together unpleasant.

This time it is Jean who breaks eye contact. He is digging in one of his side pouches and produces two field ration packets.

"Here." He holds one out to her. "You need to eat this to get your strength up."

It takes a second for this all to sink in, she is still off kilter and her body still feels all weirdly warm. She reaches an arm out and when her fingers brush his, she is hyper aware of the touch. Though his fingers are warm each point of contact causes that point to feel as though it has been burnt by ice and it tingles.

"T-thanks Jean." It is all she can manage to say and she quickly unwraps the ration, eating it quickly so as to distract herself.

She can hear the rustling of his packet as he also starts to eat. They eat in silence.

"You should sleep first." Jean says to her.

"I have already slept." She replies, looking in his general direction but not into those eyes again, she needs her mind to be clear.

"True, but you need it more. I-We all need you at your strongest. I promise that I'll wake you up when it's time."

Mikasa cannot work Jean out. He is neither the brute she thought he was, nor the coward, nor any of the labels anyone ever associated with him, with the exception of Marco.

She lies down with her back to the fire and closes her eyes. She is more exhausted than she realised, even the hard floor doesn't feel so uncomfortable. A few moments later she is asleep.

She is dreaming, she has to be dreaming. Why else would Eren be here? Why else would she be standing in the warm sunshine with the rest of the 104th training squad on what looked to be a day off? She can hear Armin and Eren discussing the huge body of salt water again and she still feels an uneasy twinge at that.

A little to her left she can see Jean chatting to Marco, who says something that makes Jean laugh out loud. It is strange to see him look so at ease.

A little past Eren and Armin she can see Conny pestering Sasha for some of her food, the latter point blank refusing to hand any of it over.

Here, in her dream, the world is still for a brief period.

She closes her eyes, enjoying the warm sunshine and the background chatter from those around her. This is the peace that she dreams of.

Her peace is interrupted by a shadow falling over her. She snaps open her eyes, this is often when her dreams turn into nightmares, when huge titans appear and she can only watch in horror as people are devoured around her. But there is no titan, only Jean.

His eyes are burning again and free from the restrictions of reality she can look into them all she wants. Her body gives the same reaction it did earlier, the burning sensations making her feel weightless and frozen at the same time. It really is an odd sensation.

He holds out his hand to her and she takes it as he helps her to her feet. He doesn't let go of her hand and continues to look into her eyes.

The world around them has stopped.

Lifting his other hand Jean cups her cheek, then slides his hand around the back of her neck and in one swift motion bring his lips down to meet hers.

Her body feels as though it would explode and instinctively she pulls her hand away from his to wrap it around his waist to bring herself closer to him.

Involuntarily she moans with pleasure and this only spurs her on. She is responding to Jean's kiss with passion and her other hand is stroking the soft, short hair on the back of his neck.

"….Mikasa? Are you okay?" A distant voice calls. "…Wake up! Are you having a nightmare?"

She opens her eyes to see a very concerned Jean leaning over her. He is kneeling over her only a half a foot from her face. "You were moaning in your sleep, were you having a nightmare?"

Her dream comes flooding back; she made those noises out loud? She looks up at Jean , her eyes move down to his lips and a small thrill goes through her see that her dream had recreated them perfectly. Her mind is screaming that he is close, too close. She can feel the heat on her own cheeks and wonders if he can see it?

"I'm okay." She manages to gasp out. Jean moves back and she sits up. "Perhaps it is your turn to sleep. I don't think I can sleep any further."

Jean moves back to his spot and begins folding his jacket up into a make shift pillow. He lies down facing her. "Don't hesitate to wake me, if you need anything." She can't tell if he is blushing or if the fire is painting his cheeks.

Then he rolls over and goes to sleep.

She waits five minutes to be sure that he is asleep before running her fingers over lips where there is a phantom tingle.

Mikasa added another log to the fire. She had a feeling that she would need to relive that dream at least once more.

Running her fingers over her lips once more, she smiles.

**Okay I'll confess… I struggled to write the first 800 words of this drabble. It was like having to pull teeth so I am not sure that this is the best piece I have ever written. So if it is below par, I apologise. **

**Secondly to Hingabana.4: I get you **** and your rant was fantastic to read. I'm glad there are more Jean lovers out there.**

**Anon-u: I am glad I made you ship ErenxAnnie, my mind control powers are better than I thought. Only kidding **

**Eyesonfireblue: Thank you that was one of the nicest reviews ever **

**I shall start the next piece of this drabble series tomorrow.**

**~Kit**


	4. Chapter 4

**And now a brief interlude with Sasha… I really dig her, hope I did her justice. **

**~Kit**

Sasha could always remember being hungry. When she was younger, it seemed to be a constant state of being. It would gnaw at her insides as though her stomach was going to eat itself in sheer desperation for nourishment.

It was also not the greatest that food seemed to be getting scarcer and scarcer with each passing year. Despite her father's warning about saving food for harder times, it seemed that she couldn't help herself.

At every opportunity she would gorge herself until her stomach was distended and she finally felt full. Mini Titan that was her nickname with the kids from her village, at first it had mad her cry hot, angry tears, it wasn't her fault that she was always so hungry and it didn't help that she shot up like a bean sprout when she was ten.

Soon enough though it was just a statement of fact rather than the cruel name she had been given.

Her father often wondered where her voracious appetite came from, she could see it in his eyes whenever he caught her stealing food. If only he knew that she ate out of fear. Her fear was all consuming and it left an empty pit inside her.

She was scared of the titans, she was scared of what might happen, she was scared of running out of food but mostly she was scared of change. Change meant loss and having lost her mother, her warm caring mother, it was a pain that she never wanted to experience again

Even she could see it, after the fall of Wall Maria, there seemed to be less and less food to be hunted. She would be out in the forest for hours looking for game and mostly every hunting party returned empty handed.

In her panic she would raid the storerooms trying to drown her fear in food. It had been a particularly bad day when her father caught her eating from the storerooms again. He had yelled at her to stop and taken the food away when she actually bit him to try and get her food back.

Her fear turned to anger when he told her of the plan to switch to farming from hunting. It enraged her further when her father told her that the capital would pay them to farm.

Who cared about the capital? Why should they change for a tragedy that wasn't theirs? Or that could be blamed on them? Why should they give up their way of life, a life they had been living for generations?

It was only when her father's face softened as he told her that humanity needed to band together to survive, to be at their strongest and to achieve their true potential.

But she couldn't agree with her father, they weren't horse breeders and farmers, they were hunters.

After a month of stony silence, she left.

Joining the military was the best and worst idea she had ever had. The worst because she was as isolated here as she was at home. She kept her speech as overly polite as possible as she tried to disguise the country accent she has. Weirdly, she didn't even think that her accent was so bad until she heard the city accent as she asked for directions to the enlisting station.

It was the worst as she had to earn another nickname during her first day. Potato Girl. All she had done was take a snack with her, a snack that uncharacteristically of her, she had tried to share. Instead she was punished with running laps around the field until nightfall or she passed out. She had groaned out load when Keith told her that there would be no lunch or dinner break. The nickname had stuck with her all through training, despite her never being caught with a potato again.

It was the best joining the military because here, her hunting skills were so very useful. Her balance and speed proved to be an invaluable asset and her hunting intuition also proved useful. Graduating ninth in her class still didn't feel quite real.

It was also the best because, eventually, she started to make friends. She counted Christa as a friend, even if she had to deal with scary Ymir. Christa would consistently stand up for her, but for her it started when she smuggled out bread for her on the first day.

But perhaps Conny was the best person to call a friend. Although during the day he hung out with Reiner, at night he was happy to stage a food raid with her. They would sit with their spoils cracking jokes until the food ran out or one of them grew tired.

Sasha supposed he was the first person she felt comfortable dropping the accent with. Conny was in some ways similar to her, growing up in a small village in the South, moving here without any idea of the vastness of a city and missing his home. It was why they bonded. In between jokes they would share stories about the lives they had growing up. She would tell of her father teaching her to hunt and he would make her laugh out loud about the stories he had of his mother's frequent naps.

Eventually they would spend time clowning around, trying to trick the other into doing something silly or trying to trick the people next to them.

That had been a much simpler time.

When Wall Rose had been breached, it was the first time she had ever seen a titan. The drawings and scale models that she had encountered in training had not even begun to prepare her. It was the Colossal Titan that had been burned into her memory, the lipless mouth showing teeth that were in a crude imitation of a grin. She had abandoned her scavenged meat and plummeted to save Samuel.

She had been assigned to guard the middle area of Trost and it had been terrifying to watch the titans get closer and closer. To watch her classmates get grabbed and eaten. It was her speed that kept her alive, her intuition predicting the titans next move and her fast reflexes allowing for her escape.

It is with joy that she reunites with her compatriots but that quickly turns to horror as she realises the number that they have lost. When Mikasa leaves and no one follows her anger burns again as she yells. "Cowards, Weaklings, Idiots!" and she turns to follow Mikasa towards headquarters.

She didn't think Armin had it in him to craft such a devious plan and she is a little surprised to be chosen to take down one of the titans. Conny is beside her as they take down the titans and she is only dimly aware that he also failed as her titan starts to reach for her. She tries to reason with it, telling it she is sorry for trying to kill it but it continued to reach for her.

She is still frozen in fear when her titan suddenly pitches forward with a blank expression on its face. Mikasa lands soundlessly next to her, her blades clutched in her hands. She is so relieved she shouts her thanks at her as her legs give out from underneath her and she slumps forward.

It is at the burning ceremony when she hears Jean tell them that he is joining the Scouting Legion, it is a surprise when she hears Conny say the same thing. She thinks of seeing a titan again and the pit in her stomach opens wide. She looks at those who are joining the Scouting Legion and she is surprised to see the open fear on everyone's faces.

Tears pour down her face as Commander Irvin gives his speech. It is nothing short of terrifying what he is saying, but even when there is no punishment for deserting her legs refuse to move. This only makes her cry harder.

During the month scouting training she learns to face her fear, she will never not be scared, but she learns to control it better.

She is assigned to the left wing when they go out on their first scouting mission and so she misses seeing the female titan. But while she is with the others in the trees, with the titans salivating at their feet, she hears that scream.

She knows that noise, all trapped animals make that noise when their hope disappears and they scream in fear. It is a noise of sheer desperation, a last ditch effort for help.

To hear a titan scream is terrifying.

When she hears of the breach she volunteers to go north, to her village, to home. There in panic in her heart when she sees the pathway made by a titan heading straight for her village. It is here that she regrets her skirt, riding a horse was always easier in pants, fighting a titan is just insane.

She rounds a corner to see a village that wasn't here only a short while ago. It is abandoned, doors are thrown wide in haste and dropped possessions are littering the path in front of her.

In one of the houses in the middle, she spots a titan, it kneels on the floor picking up some poor dead woman by the legs and is devouring her slowly.

In a nearby garden she finds an axe and with a blood curdling scream aims for the back of its neck. Again and again she aims for the back of the neck, only to have the wounds closes before she can do any actual damage. The titan's blood sprays all over her, drenching her skin and clothes and she can feel the tepid liquid ooze down her cheek.

It's because of the axe flying out of her hand that she even sees the child. Quickly she grabs the child and darts out the door, apologising for having the child abandon his mother. In the buzz of her adrenaline rush she hears the child question her way of speech. She sees a bow and a few arrows that she hastily picks up.

When her horse is spooked and flees, she struggles to take any control of her panic. It only clicks in then that even close to home she is still sticking to her over-polite speech. She can still hear Ymir's voice badgering her about it as she laid bare some of her fears and again it is Christa that tries to get her to back off.

Christa only receives a nasty head butt from Ymir, who uses the silence to say that she shouldn't be so scared to use her home dialect. But it is Christa with a surprisingly strong head butt back, that tells her that her word choice is hers alone and she may speak just as she likes. It was among her favourite memories.

Then again, her entire memory of her squad could be made up of those memories.

She sends the child on the path to her village, confident that someone from there will save him. She turns to make her last stand against the titan. It feels surprisingly good to have a bow and arrow back in her hands.

She loosens one bolt into its neck to grab its attention and leaps up an embankment. Her second arrow misses. She has two arrows left, she takes a deep breath and this prey is not a quick footed deer but a slow lumbering titan.

Her third arrow finds it target.

She drops the bow, she can't afford to miss this shot. She leaps at the titan, the final arrow in her fist and she feels the satisfying sensation of it sinking into its target.

There is a moment where she feels the titan wrapping its arms around her in some sort of sick embrace. It is now her turn to fight.

She flings her arm up to deflect the mouth that was dipping to eat some part of her and with all her force she slips out of the titans grasp.

She doesn't even look back as she turns to run, to find the child and her horse. She can't be more than a hundred feet when she sees movement in the trees. Her heart looks set to burst with joy and she catches sight of her father.

He takes a few seconds to realise who she is.

But nothing feels as euphoric to her as she hears her dad tell her that she became a splendid person. She urges her horse onward, finally it feels like home.

**Diclonius57 this was inspired by you. Don't think I would have ever written something about Sasha, hope I didn't mess anything up.**

**I just wanted to go a little into Sasha, besides the usual comedic function she fulfils. **

**On another note, Anon-u your reviews make me smile **** I will definitely be writing more JeanxMikasa **

**Thank you to everyone for their amazing reviews, they really make me smile. ****IVIoogle****, thanks for the idea. Since your review I have been plagued by a plot bunny.**

**See you all soon!**

**~Kit**


	5. Chapter 5

**Our next drabble is ErenxAnnie through the eyes of someone else. A note of slight spoilers for those who haven't read the manga… I may be underestimating the spoilers… **

**~Kit**

Bertholdt Fubar had always watched from the outskirts, always the casual observer and never one to force his view on the world.

But it was as he watched Eren kiss Annie, he suddenly felt the intense desire to change all that.

He had watched them fall for a long time. He had known it was happening before they did and still he could do nothing.

He had thought Annie was beautiful from the moment he saw her. It was completely by accident that he even saw her in the first place. Though they came from the same village, Annie's home had been located on the outer perimeter and he hadn't even known it existed.

It had been his turn to hide from Reiner and he had quickly left Reiner counting against the wall. He had sprinted across the village with the intent of finding a brand new hiding place. Reiner held the current record of six hours before he had been able to find him.

He had ducked between two houses and dashed for the line of trees that surrounded the perimeter of their village. Originally he had wanted to climb a well hidden tree and see if he could see Reiner running around the village to try and find him.

It was surprisingly quiet in the cluster of trees, he couldn't hear the sounds of the village any longer and the normal sounds of birds and the occasional hum of insects was gone. It was altogether eerie.

Bertholdt set about trying to find the ideal tree, his footfalls sounding unearthly loud against the silence. He checked back behind him to the village to look for any signs of Reiner approaching, for he would have finished counting ages ago, but it seemed as though he was clear for now.

He spots the ideal tree around 20 feet to his left and he heads straight toward it. The tree is far bigger than the others and its branches are all gnarled and twisted. It is the perfect place to sit and watch.

As he reaches the base of the tree he pauses before he begins his climb, he strains his ears to see if he can hear the sound of any footsteps approaching. He knows it must be close to a half an hour since they started this game and Reiner will have already checked his usual places.

Despite his young age, he is already quite tall, and it is easy for him to grab onto the branches and hoist himself up. He finally settles in a nicely curved branch, his back against the trunk and high enough to not be seen from the ground below. Now he must sit and wait.

He hadn't been aware that he even fell asleep, but a loud 'thump' had jolted him awake and sent enough adrenaline through his veins that his heart had beat wildly for quite a few minutes. It had taken several minutes for his erratic breathing to cease. The sun had moved a fair distance towards the horizon; he must have been asleep for at least a good hour.

As he began to descend from the tree he had again heard the noise that had awoken him in the first place. It was a loud thumping noise that sounded almost hollow like it was something striking wood.

Bertholdt glances around, checking for any signs that Reiner is approaching but he is greeted with nothing but silence and the occasional 'thump' from further in the trees.

He begins to advance towards the noise, moving as silently as possible so as to not disturb the source of the noise.

He nearly breaks through the line of trees into the glade without even realizing it. The glade is well hidden and it is only by pure luck that he doesn't tumble through.

He hides himself behind a bush and looks into the glade. To the far side he can see a small house, smoke eddying out of the stone chimney and the space in front is littered with varying kinds of training equipment.

It is then he first sees her, her back is facing him and she is practising on a wooden dummy in front of her. She strikes left, then right and finishes with a swift kick to the dummy's midsection. There is that 'thump' when her foot makes contact.

She turns her back towards the dummy and faces out towards the glade. When he sees her face it takes his breath away, he hadn't been expecting it to be a girl nor had he been expecting her to be so pretty.

"Again, Annie. This time try not punch so generally, aim where the pressure point is and strike there quickly and cleanly." Bertholdt had been so wrapped up in the girl that he hadn't even noticed her father. She does not speak but nods and tries again.

"Better." Her father says to her. "Now keeping practising, I'll call you in for dinner."

As her leaves the girl- Annie- tries again and again. She eventually builds up a rhythm and it looks as if she is dancing. He can barely breathe as he looks at her and there is not one part of him that doesn't want to make himself known and to have her acknowledge him.

He was so preoccupied that he doesn't hear Reiner sneaking up behind him and he cringes when Reiner lets out a whoop of satisfaction.

Bertholdt had spun around to try and shush him before Annie could discover them, but Reiner was too busy rebuking him for facing the wrong direction. It is only when Reiner sees exactly where they are does his face change. He turns around to see if Annie had heard them but she is no longer standing by the wooden dummy, he can no longer see her anywhere in the yard.

It all happens so fast it takes a few seconds for his brain to comprehend what had happened. One minute Reiner had been standing next to him and the next second he was gone. Annie had him in a lethal looking hold and all Reiner could do was squirm.

"Let go of me!" Reiner tries to escape but Annie only squeezes tighter. Bertholdt cannot move, he is frozen in that one position and he knows his eyes are wide with fear.

"What are you doing here?" She asks her voice laced with accusations.

For a few moments silence hangs in the air.

He knows that he had been staring at her; he hadn't expected her eyes to be so blue nor so piercing. He can only manage to gasp out; "Who are you?"

She opens her mouth to respond but she is cut off by Reiner.

"They are the town loners; it's why they live out here. Her father is a complete freak and it's why they live out here."

Abruptly she lets him go and shoves him forward as though he has some form of infectious disease.

"I suggest you leave." That's what she says as she turns to head back and she turns to glare at Reiner with nothing but hatred burning in her eyes. He watches her head back to the dummy and resume her training.

He should have listened to himself back then. _She will never notice you. People never notice those who observe from a distance._

When she had reappeared at the 104th training squad he could have scarcely believed his luck. He had been mostly quiet the entire time she was around and it had taken most of his will to not be caught gawking at her.

She never acknowledged him or had shown any signs of recognising him but she certainly remembered Reiner. The cold disdain never left her eyes when he was around. But he had continued to watch her over the next few days of training, despite the protests of his heart.

It had been to his horror when she had offered to start training Eren. She had offered it to him so naturally, so easily; all due to Eren's so called use for the technique. He had nearly been toppled to the ground by Conny when he had heard Eren agree.

And so it had started. Though outwardly it looked like nothing, Bertholdt knew better and it would only end up going one way.

At first there was hardly a friendship, it was more of a tenuous bond driven by Eren's passion to learn. He would throw himself helter-skelter into every technique that Annie could teach him. But as their training sessions extended beyond normal hand-to-hand training hours, the deeper their bond grew.

He had almost lost track of the two of them, amongst dealing with Reiner's increasingly fragile mental state. It had started when Eren and Armin had described the attack on their home and the devouring of Eren's mother in front of his eyes. The description of that day through the eyes of a victim had impacted Reiner's conscience and shattered it like a mirror.

He had begun to disassociate himself with who exactly he was and began adopting the persona he was using as cover as his true self.

Each day it got harder and harder to bring him back.

When Reiner was the soldier, the guilt of who he was and what he had done threatened to eat him alive. For Reiner's true self, the warrior had absconded the guilt for he had no way of dealing with it, not when they had secrets to keep.

He had been on his way to meet up with Reiner when he spotted them training. It has been almost a year since they started and how Eren is now at the top of the Combat class.

He watches them train. Annie is trying to teach Eren a particularly difficult throw and there is something he is not doing quite right. With patience Bertholdt didn't think Annie had, she explains it again. Eren nods and positions himself again.

This time Eren is successful and Annie allows herself to be thrown onto the soft, green grass. Eren gives her this big grin and Annie smiles back. Bertholdt distinguishes it from any other half smile that Annie has ever given; this one is genuine and reaches up to her eyes.

If Eren notices he hides it well and continues to grin at her. It is then he feels it, a small crackle of something else and it's not even meant for him to see. He looks at Annie again he feels the same giddy feeling he has always felt since he first saw her at the camp but it's tinged with a sense of loss. He tries to dismiss the feeling, how can you ever lose what was never yours to begin with?

They resume training and Bertholdt continues on his way. He is so emotionally drained that he is tempted to not bring out the warrior Renier for today and remain with the soldier Reiner. But he dare not for fear of losing the one true friend he has.

He begins to watch them almost obsessively, though at mealtimes and in the group they rarely converse. Either she is off by herself or Eren is fighting with Jean over who knows what. Those two always seemed to be fighting over nothing.

But when they are training alone things are very different. Whether or not they are aware, their fingers linger on each other and breaking eye contact happens less and less. He has been cut out of a race that he was never even a part of.

Annie has ceased teaching him moves and now they spar together, each one of them trying to get the best of the other. More often than not Annie is the winner and if it's been a hard fight, she rewards Eren with another smile. The crackle between them is growing louder every time he watches them and still they do not seem to be the wiser about it.

The warrior is getting harder and harder to bring out and sometimes goes days without reappearing. Bertholdt has never felt this truly alone. He wonders if Annie ever feels this way and if he ever offered would she accept his shoulder to lean on? But he never tries because he is only a watcher and the side lines are where he belongs.

In the final year he finally notices the change he has been looking for. It is a shift in their relationship that neither of them can ignore. Eren has grown, while he is not as tall as himself or Reiner, he is now taller than Annie by a good few centimetres.

He hadn't even meant to see this, he had been returning from a walk when he accidently saw the two of them talking. They had been sitting next to each other against the trunk of a tree, deeply engaged in conversation. He had hidden himself behind a tree to watch them.

There touches were initially innocuous. A gentle graze here and there, but as they lost themselves in conversation their grazes lingered. The sun was low on the horizon when they both stood up to leave and it for a few seconds Eren had looked away and had taken a deep breath before stepping forward and tenderly touching his lips to hers.

The fires of hatred had sprung up within him. He would have ruined the very mission he was tasked with just to ruin Eren.

Eren's hand has reached up to cup Annie's cheek and the other is on her waist. He has deepened the kiss and her hands are now around his waist.

The next few minutes are eternities in hell.

It Is Eren who breaks the kiss, leaning back to look at Annie with a prominent blush on his cheeks. She smiles at Eren again, a suggestion of a blush on her cheeks and her lips slightly more pink than before.

It is to Eren and his surprise that Annie kisses him again, this time with more insistence, more of a need than before. She pushes him gently against the tree and melts her body onto his. Bertholdt can endure this pain no longer.

He leaves them by the tree, his heart is heavy and it is accusing him for all of its pain.

**Cue depressing ending… Anyway, I have been wanting to write this for a while now. Ever since the last manga came out but I couldn't quite seem to picture it. **

**I also wanted to include a reaction of Eren when they are in the forest, but I wanted to use that for Realisations instead **** I have a doozy of a chapter planned for that one… well I a doozy for me at least. **

**Lastly, to all my reviewers, alerters and favouriters (MS Word does not like those) you guys really make my day. To anon-u it doesn't look like you have been on in a while… I hope you are okay **

**Okay this is lastly, to all those who read the latest manga chapter, how hectic was it? And am I the only praying every time I load a page going "Please don't kill Jean. Please don't kill Jean."? **

**Anyway, see you soon lovelies!**

**~Kit**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hello! Been a while hasn't it? Anyway please enjoy ^.^**

**~Kit**

She knew that she had been avoiding it. For around two weeks after she had resolutely avoided him. Of course, life wasn't all that fair so she had bumped into him a few times after that. Their meetings had invariably played out the same way; she would freeze, he would freeze and in the awkward few seconds pause; colour would rise in his cheeks.

Luckily there had always been plenty of things to keep her busy. She had trained herself harder, pushing her 3D Gear, and herself, to the limit. She had attended Eren's debriefing but he had been there, so she had had to stare intently at Eren the entire time. Eren hadn't taken kindly to this and had glared back at her every so often.

He had told them about their bond with Annie, especially Bertholdt and he had slammed his hand down when he had said Bertholdt's name. Commander Irvin had been present, pale and drawn his right sleeve glaringly empty. When the meeting was over he had risen with surprising strength and had returned to the medical wing to have his bandages changed.

After a week there had been very little left for her to do, there were no more new missions as news of the other titans from beyond the wall left those in charge reeling. Armin was frequently called in to meetings to theorise on what exactly this all meant. He would often arrive at dinner still muttering darkly to himself as he scoffed at a theory that someone had put forward.

They had also increased guards along the Walls close to the towns and they had installed telescopes to try and increase the distance at which they could spot titans. It also helped to spot any humans as they approached the Wall, which was a balm on the growing concerns that humans could walk up to the Wall, simply change into their titan form and wreak havoc upon them.

She had taken to wandering up the wall in the late afternoons. She would stare out over the long plains and search for any signs of movement. She was looking for Bertholdt and Reiner so that she could finally have her revenge, she was counting on them coming to get Annie and she would be waiting for them.

It had come as quite a shock to her when she had arrived at her starting point to find him there. He was looking out over the Wall; his eyes fixated on a titan in the distance. The titan was ambling closer to the Wall but it was apparent from its directionless meandering that it wasn't setting out to attack. Nevertheless she could hear the nearby squadron's thump of their heavy boots as they prepared to defend the Wall if the titan even so much as brushed it.

Mikasa supposed that this was as good a time as any. She had to eventually thank him; the longer she dragged this out, the bigger deal she was making of this whole thing anyway. Mikasa has only ever had to say her thanks a few times since the slavers came. She had said her thanks to Eren, her adoptive parents, to Armin and now to _him_.

She had to steel her nerves as she crossed a parapet to reach the platform he was on. Her palms were slightly clammy and she was still chiding herself for being this nervous. It seemed that he wasn't expecting company and he visibly jumped when she appeared in his peripheral vision.

"Jean, there is something that I have been meaning to say, but I am not sure how to put this into words."

Jean paled at her words and coughed nervously. She took a deep breath and continued.

"I wanted to say thanks. You saved my life when I was grabbed by that titan." Mikasa felt the heat rise in her cheeks, this was mortifying.

Jean lets out a bark of laughter as his shoulders dropped in relief.

"That's what you wanted to talk to me about? I thought you had realised something. What I did was nothing." He says as he turns to face her, his eyes meeting hers. "I would do it again without hesitation."

There was a pause as she gathered her thoughts, her eyes still locked with Jean's.

"Whatever your feelings Jean, I need to say thank you. I could have died, or lost a limb like Commander Irvin and I'm not a strategist like Armin or the Commander. I could have been made useless."

"You could never be useless Mikasa. Even if you lost two limbs, you would still be more useful than most of the legion."

They still had not broken eye contact and stood quite close to one another on the small platform. When she broke eye contact, he turned back to look out over the Wall. Mikasa takes a moment to study him; his hair ruffled slightly in the breeze, his now broader shoulders were strong, there was a fading remnant of a bruise on his right finger and it was a sickly yellow and purple against his the rest of his creamy skin.

"How did you get that bruise?"

Jean raised his hand and splayed his fingers as he looked at the bruise; it had stretched across all of his fingers, but the rest had all but faded.

"I got this when I launched myself at that titan. Don't think I was paying much attention to the amount of force I was putting into the leap. The handle was almost wrenched out of my hand."

"Does it hurt?" She asked as she noted the still dark purple parts of the bruise.

"Not anymore. It hurt like hell when we got back though."

The silence that fell between them was a lot more comfortable than before. The wandering titan had shuffled off in another direction away from the Wall. The sun had begun its lazy descent to the horizon. Something clicked in Mikasa's head.

"Say Jean, what was it that you thought I had realised?"

Jean started and a fierce blush had crept up his cheeks. He opened his mouth but seemed unable to say anything. He breathed in deeply and released one long exhale as he tried to rid his body of the tension.

"If I tell you, you are sworn to secrecy. You cannot breathe a word of this to anyone, especially not to Eren."

This made her pause, she had never really kept anything from Eren before, but what exactly would make Jean baulk every time he saw her.

"I promise." His gaze is penetrating.

"What I have been keeping a secret is this."

Jean stepped forward and pressed his lips to hers. It was like a hundred flares going off at once. There was a swooping sensation in her belly and her pulse pounded in her ears. She felt every small part of Jean's lips upon hers and they were soft despite the intense need that he was kissing her with.

Ordinarily she would have assessed Jean's reasoning but her brain was not responding as it normally would. It was lost in the sensation. At some point she had started responding to Jean's kiss on instinct. She had stepped forward to obliterate the gap between them as her hands had reached up to clasp around his neck while his hands wound their way around her waist.

Mikasa has never felt such heat; it had pooled inside her, feeding a fire she never knew existed. Where his hands were on her back flushed hot and cold, time was both rushing by and standing still and his once timid kisses had changed to ones of utter passion. Mikasa had responded with eagerness she had not thought possible.

It was Jean who broke their kiss and had started to trail fire down to her throat when he suddenly stopped. He snapped up; a deep crimson blush on his cheeks. It seemed that Jean was just in the moment as she was.

"I'm sorry!" Jean blurted out, looking mortified with himself. "I'm really sorry."

Before she can say anything to him, he had disappeared across the parapet and with one last glance at her over his shoulder vanished from sight.

In his wake he left one very confused Mikasa.

**Well I was thinking of making this a two-shot but I'm not sure… Anyway feels nice to have written something again **

**Think I'm going to write an AU next, have a plot bunny that won't go away… **

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Kit**


End file.
